Tapwrit wins 2017 Belmont Stakes

A year after Pletcher-trained Destin got caught at the wire by Creator in the Belmont, Tapwrit stopped the clock in 2:30.02 to give his trainer a second classic win of the year, after Always Dreaming's victory in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum!

This year the Kentucky Derby and Preaknesswinners will both sit out of the 1.5-mile race.

Tapwrit, the 5-1 second choice rallied down the stretch to pass the favorite, Irish War Cry, to win the 2017 Belmont Stakes (G1) by two lengths.

The race is held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, but the first running of the event took place in 1867 at Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx.

Patch, the 1-eyed horse, came rd, 7-3/4 lengths back. Early favorite Classic Empire had to withdraw because of injury, and then Japanese wild card Epicharis was scratched Saturday morning because of injury as well. "It's a feeling I can't explain right now".

The 149th running of the Belmont Stakes will begin tonight at 6:47 p.m. ET without the surrounding buzz of recent years. Eight top three finishes are enough for him to head the field, though, and horseplayers betting on Irish War Cry will bank on him replicating his win at the Wood Memorial in April.

Tapwrit returned $12.60, $6.50 and $5 across the board for a $2 bet. Pletcher is the first trainer since D. Wayne Lukas (1996) to have different horses win the Kentucky Derby and Belmont.

"Tapwrit was getting a attractive trip", said Pletcher.

If Irish War Cry'sjockey, Rajiv Maragh, was disappointed in coming up just short, he didn't show it after the race.

"The horse was close to being able to compete but we ran out of time", trainerKiyoshi Hagiwara said through a translator.

Meantime (+1400) will start in the front, but with only one graded stakes race to his credit, even this diluted Belmont field could be above his pay grade, in a matter of speaking.

A pre-race exam on Saturday morning revealed heat in Epicharis' hoof.

The win became his trainer's third victor of the race after Rags To Riches (2007) and Palace Malice (2012). "It looked like Irish War Cry still had a little something left, but the last sixteenth, he dug down deep".

"Unbelievable", Ortiz said after the race.

Senior Investment surged late to take third in the Preakness and his trainer, Ken McPeek, won the 2002 Belmont with 70-1 shot Sarava.

New Mexico's own jockey Mike Smith was aboard the horseMeantime, but it would be Tapwrit who would emerge victorious after holding off Irish War Cry down the stretch.

"But the one thing that I think he suits our style of training and he suits Tapwrit is he's a pretty aggressive rider".

In winning his third career Belmont Stakes Pletcher captured two of the three jewels of this year's Triple Crown. If Irish War Cry can run the way he did at the Wood Memorial back in April, winning by three and a half lengths over Preakness victor Cloud Computing, he should claim the Belmont Stakes title.

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